Rich, the below part was quoted elsewhere, and I thought I'd ask about it.

quote:I doubt it. I think that Mystra's death likely brings an end to most of the special abilities conferred by her on the Chosen.

I'm failing to understand the logic, here.

I don't recall Baneliches being negatively affected by Bane's death... Mystra's Chosen contain part of her essence, true, but it's an independent part. If they survived the Time of Troubles, I don't see that the death of another Mystra is going to seriously impact them.

Rich, the below part was quoted elsewhere, and I thought I'd ask about it.

quote:I doubt it. I think that Mystra's death likely brings an end to most of the special abilities conferred by her on the Chosen.

I'm failing to understand the logic, here.

I don't recall Baneliches being negatively affected by Bane's death... Mystra's Chosen contain part of her essence, true, but it's an independent part. If they survived the Time of Troubles, I don't see that the death of another Mystra is going to seriously impact them.

Thats how I had it figured out as well Wooly. I guess I will have to just cross my fingers.

A little nonsense now and then, relished by the wisest men - Willy Wonka

Mayhap this question has been asked and answered already, but when was Saelethil Dlardregeth alive? Forsaken House says something about him studying the magic of Aryvaandar firsthand. I don't need anything specific, just a circa date.

I'm right now reading Ed Gentry's "Neversfall" novel (which is great, but for my taste lacks a bit of "realms-feeling", at least in the first 150 pages) and just finished Bruce R. Cordell's excellent "Darkvision" and "Stardeep". The same here: great novels, but they don't really feel "realmsian".

Of course it has to do with the fact that all three stories play in the margins or border areas of the realms, some of which are thitherto not really explored (I suspect that Veldorn is even explored in detail for the first time in "Neversfall"). What I really like is that with these border areas getting explored by writers different from the "old guard" like Ed Greenwood, Steven Schend or Elaine Cunningham (to name just a few), these areas are portrayed as having a different style, a different tone, or "feel" than the areas that usually get all the attention (waterdeep, silver marshes, heartlands).

What confuses me (yep, NOW I come to the point of my question! *grin*) is that I read a statement from you (but I don't remember where exactly) that the 4E realms will concentrate back on the "most realmsian" areas - and when I read the ads for future novels (the Citadel series, for example) as well as the three novels I mentioned above, many of them concentrate on areas that will probably NOT see much attention in terms of gamebooks and adventures.

Do I get something wrong here? I mean, I love that these novels explore the realm's margins and I love that these lands actually feel different from the Dales or Cormyr or the Moonsea, but why going two oppositional strategies with novels and gamebooks?

Oooh, guess I haven't checked back here in a while... sorry for the long delay.

I think of the Chosen's special abilities in relation to the Weave as something that either a) Mystra specifically grants when needed; or b) Chosen use the Weave itself to accomplish. In either case, the death of Mystra and end of the Weave would keep the Chosen from employing silver fire or some of those spell-like abilities again. You might say they no longer have "administrator" privileges on the use of arcane magic in the world. They've got to learn how to wield arcane magic sans the Weave, just like anybody else (although some are brilliant archmages and probably figure out workarounds pretty fast).

Something like a banelich doesn't continuously draw on Bane's power (as far as I know); once made, it's the way it is.

quote:Originally posted by Wooly Rupert

Rich, the below part was quoted elsewhere, and I thought I'd ask about it.

quote:I doubt it. I think that Mystra's death likely brings an end to most of the special abilities conferred by her on the Chosen.

I'm failing to understand the logic, here.

I don't recall Baneliches being negatively affected by Bane's death... Mystra's Chosen contain part of her essence, true, but it's an independent part. If they survived the Time of Troubles, I don't see that the death of another Mystra is going to seriously impact them.

I'm really not "the lead guy" these days, and haven't been for several years now... especially as concerns something going on in our novel line, especially in a Salvatore book. I presume that Bob knows what he's doing, so you'd have to ask him about that.

As far as the Knights go, I don't think their fate is specifically addressed in the new FR Campaign Guide. I don't remember seeing anything about it. So for the moment it's a bit like Schroedinger's Cat; until we "open the box" by actually publishing something about it, all possibilities are equally likely.

quote:Originally posted by Charles Phipps

Hey Richard;

1. As the lead guy, can you tell us (retroactively) whether King Gareth of Damara fell from Paladin status for the events in The Sellswords by R.A. Salvatore?

2. Will we find out what happened to major (but probably now defunct) Tyr/Helm organizations like the Knights of Samular or characters who depended on them like The Open lord of Waterdeep?

Or is this past information, more or less low priority due to the "fresh start" of the Time Skip?

I might have exaggerated with the "firsthand" remark. I sure thought of Saelethil as going back to the time of Siluvanede, probably not much older than Sarya herself.

quote:Originally posted by Lady Fellshot

Mayhap this question has been asked and answered already, but when was Saelethil Dlardregeth alive? Forsaken House says something about him studying the magic of Aryvaandar firsthand. I don't need anything specific, just a circa date.

I really don't have anything against interloper gods in general, although I can understand why the information we've released so far might make it look that way. Oghma doesn't bother me... nor does Tyr, really. Certainly Tiamat is an "interloper deity" too, but we wouldn't mess with the Queen of Evil Dragons. And, for that matter, Corellon, Lolth, Moradin, etc., are interlopers in that they're not original and unique to Realms, but instead imported from other D&D sources. Their interloper-ness isn't that important to the setting, and they fit in the Realms just fine.

quote:Originally posted by Charles Phipps

Hey, Richard, do you think there's a place for Interloper deities at all in the Realms or would you rather replace them all with Realms specific gods?

Yes. What we used to call the Plane of Shadow, we now call the Shadowfell. I expect that mages in the Realms would probably still refer to it by the old name, and most things that used to be there you'd still find there post-Spellplague, but for the sake of consistency with the core game we'll just call it the Shadowfell in the Realms too.

(As it so happens, the depiction of the plane of Shadow in my novel "The Shadow Stone" is a pretty good preview for how the Shadowfell looks and feels... a bit of convergent evolution, nothing that was really my specific doing.)

quote:Originally posted by Pierre-Luc

Mr. Baker, I'd like to know if there's a Realms-equivalent of the Shadowfell ? Thank you in advance.

Oooh, guess I haven't checked back here in a while... sorry for the long delay.

I think of the Chosen's special abilities in relation to the Weave as something that either a) Mystra specifically grants when needed; or b) Chosen use the Weave itself to accomplish. In either case, the death of Mystra and end of the Weave would keep the Chosen from employing silver fire or some of those spell-like abilities again. You might say they no longer have "administrator" privileges on the use of arcane magic in the world. They've got to learn how to wield arcane magic sans the Weave, just like anybody else (although some are brilliant archmages and probably figure out workarounds pretty fast).

Something like a banelich doesn't continuously draw on Bane's power (as far as I know); once made, it's the way it is.

quote:Originally posted by Wooly Rupert

Rich, the below part was quoted elsewhere, and I thought I'd ask about it.

quote:I doubt it. I think that Mystra's death likely brings an end to most of the special abilities conferred by her on the Chosen.

I'm failing to understand the logic, here.

I don't recall Baneliches being negatively affected by Bane's death... Mystra's Chosen contain part of her essence, true, but it's an independent part. If they survived the Time of Troubles, I don't see that the death of another Mystra is going to seriously impact them.

Yeah, but here's the thing: The Chosen don't just have better access to the Weave -- they carry some of Mystra's divine essence. That's the source of their abilities. It should be noted that this divine essence even lets them do things like destroy dead magic areas.

We know that the Chosen have survived the death of the previous Mystra. And from baneliches, we know that the death of a deity does not affect entities carrying some of that deity's essence.

So basically, in canon, there is no reason to assume that the death of Mystra will have all that dramatic an impact on her Chosen. Since that appears to not be the case, here, I'm confused.

quote:Originally posted by RichardBakerI think of the Chosen's special abilities in relation to the Weave as something that either a) Mystra specifically grants when needed; or b) Chosen use the Weave itself to accomplish.

This is not how I recall it Rich.

Mystra grants her Chosen abilites and power, once granted she cannot take them back. It is theirs, it is part of them. She can give them other powers if she wishes to later. They can also voluntarily give up some of that power back to her, they cannot be forced by anyone or any God to do so. So they don't have or need 'administrator privileges' they have the power already. Else why would fallen Chosen (like Sammaster) still be extremely powerful and need to God to actually harm him?

Re the weave: if Elminster is immune to poison what has the Weave got anything to do with that? He is simply immune, his immunity is not being drawn from the Weave.

Your explanations don't seem to fit with previous lore about this?

Just wondering

Damian

So saith Ed. I've never said he was sane, have I?Gods, all this writing and he's running a constant fantasy version of Coronation Street in his head, too. .shudder,love to all,THOCandlekeep Forum 7 May 2005

Yes, I seem to recall that Mystra was unable to revoke Sammaster's abilities for the most part...I was thinking that he could no longer access the 'silver fire'. Think it's in Code of the Harpers, but it's buried :(

quote:Originally posted by crazedventurers

This is not how I recall it Rich.

Mystra grants her Chosen abilites and power, once granted she cannot take them back. It is theirs, it is part of them. She can give them other powers if she wishes to later. They can also voluntarily give up some of that power back to her, they cannot be forced by anyone or any God to do so. So they don't have or need 'administrator privileges' they have the power already. Else why would fallen Chosen (like Sammaster) still be extremely powerful and need to God to actually harm him?

Re the weave: if Elminster is immune to poison what has the Weave got anything to do with that? He is simply immune, his immunity is not being drawn from the Weave.

Yes, I seem to recall that Mystra was unable to revoke Sammaster's abilities for the most part...I was thinking that he could no longer access the 'silver fire'. Think it's in Code of the Harpers, but it's buried :(

She couldn't take back the power herself without destroying it. She had to rely on Azuth to actually do it. Ed once spoke on this, in reply to a question of mine:

quote:Ed’s reply does indeed “imply that once a being becomes a Chosen, Mystra can't reclaim from that person her own essence.” You point out that “that's exactly what is described as having happened to Sammaster: thru Azuth, Mystra's essence was removed from Sammaster.”EXACTLY. Sammaster’s silver fire was taken through the actions of Azuth, another deity.Mystra can forcibly wrest her divine essence (the silver fire) directly from a mortal, but in doing so loses it forever, weakening herself (it does not ‘find its way back to her’ in the normal way, but is GONE). So she won’t do it.That doesn’t stop Azuth, working with her, from doing it (she’d probably fight any other deity trying it on a mortal located on Toril, and win by using the Weave against them).

So it's not the Weave, it's divine essence that the Chosen have. And once they have it, it's theirs -- it would take a deity to remove it, and they'd need Mystra's blessing to do so.

Also, will there be any talk about how to "move player characters" up 100 years or will the default assumption be that everyone is expected to have made new characters?

I'm not Rich, but Brian James said somewhere that the FRCG will contain ideas on how to move characters into the future for the 4E Realms campaign.

"Instead of asking why we sleep, it might make sense to ask why we wake. Perchance we live to dream. From that perspective, the sea of troubles we navigate in the workaday world might be the price we pay for admission to another night in the world of dreams."--Richard Greene (letter to Time)

I just saw that your upcoming book The Swordmage will be a hardcover version. Good for you! You are a great writer, and product designer, and you deserve being published in hardcover. Also, I'm withholding any negative judgment until I have the new FR campaign setting in my hands. That being said, the Prismatic Mountains mentioned in the new sneak peak on the Wizards web-page seems a bit over the top. I have no problems with you guys moving the the setting into high fantasy (or something), but I beg you to refrain to add something spectacular just for the sake of it (much like the monsters and prestige classes in 3E). Otherwise, keep up the good work and I am looking forward to the first book.

One question: Is the book still scheduled for a May release or has it been moved? If it has, do you know when it will be released instead?

Ingo DjanDUNGEON MASTER AO OF THE DIAMONDS!

"I see the future repeat the past. It all is a museum of great news. The Time do not stop."

Reread Chapter 11 in the novel Shadowdale, GS. Nothing is ever added 'just for the sake of it'.

quote:Originally posted by GS

That being said, the Prismatic Mountains mentioned in the new sneak peak on the Wizards web-page seems a bit over the top. I have no problems with you guys moving the the setting into high fantasy (or something), but I beg you to refrain to add something spectacular just for the sake of it

Yeah, but here's the thing: The Chosen don't just have better access to the Weave -- they carry some of Mystra's divine essence. That's the source of their abilities. It should be noted that this divine essence even lets them do things like destroy dead magic areas.

We know that the Chosen have survived the death of the previous Mystra. And from baneliches, we know that the death of a deity does not affect entities carrying some of that deity's essence.

So basically, in canon, there is no reason to assume that the death of Mystra will have all that dramatic an impact on her Chosen. Since that appears to not be the case, here, I'm confused.

Hasbro owns all of the canon, and it is aimed at us! Stop trying to think in terms of anything Ed Greenwood created. This new thing, slouching out of Bethlehem, bears no resemblance to Ed Greenwood's "Forgotten Realms," and Realmsian logic breaks down when trying to deal with it.